Pilibhit: Poachers killed two chitals in the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) and fled after stealing a rifle from a forest guard, police said on Saturday.
The incident occurred on the night of Friday to Saturday.
After receiving information from the Forest Department, PTR Deputy Director Manish Singh informed Superintendent of Police (SP) Avinash Pandey about the incident, police said.
Pandey told reporters that poachers on motorcycles killed two chitals in the Mal range of PTR.
“After hearing gunshots, a Forest Department team conducted patrol and found some individuals sitting on two motorcycles parked on the roadside. When the team tried to stop them, the suspects fled on their motorcycles,” he said.
The forest department team also recovered chital meat from the forest, he added.
PTR deputy director Singh said a poacher sitting on a tree stole a rifle from forest guard Jitendra Singh and fled.
An investigation is underway and several police teams from nearby stations have joined forces with the Forest Department to surround the forest and look for the culprits.
Recently, two leopards were sighted in Pilibhit and Rampur districts, triggering panic among locals, officials said on Friday.
An official said the forest department has set up cages in both districts to trap the leopards.
The leopard that strayed from the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve area was seen sitting in a sugarcane field at Bilgaon village adjacent to Nagar Kotwali late on Thursday evening in Pilibhit, an official said.
With PTI inputs
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